Campaigns and Briefings

Statement from Chair of Sulha Alliance, Prof Sara de Jong— July 30, 2026 On U.K. House of Commons Defence Committee Report on Afghan Data Breach

"As a witness to the Inquiry and having known about the data breach from August 2023, we welcome the Defence Select Committee's critical review of the Government's actions and its recognition of the human costs to Afghans affected by the data breach. These human costs, from physical risk to psychological damage, are much more significant than the Government initially accepted, as I know from my daily contact with Afghans with a Defence connection and from our survey research among Afghans affected by the data breach (with Professor Victoria Canning and the NGO Refugee Legal Support), which is cited in the Committee's report.

The report's key recommendation that the Government should publish "a clear policy for eligible Afghans who cannot safely, lawfully or affordably self-move to a third country" needs be put in practice most urgently. We are in contact with several desperate Afghans who are still at risk and abandoned in Afghanistan, because they don't have the financial means to self-move, almost 5 years since the withdrawal in August 2021. Many of them had first been promised they would get assistance and have been victim to the slow bureaucratic processing of their applications that the Defence Select Committee's Report also highlights.

The strongly worded conclusion of the Committee that the Rimmer Review "should not be treated as the final word on risk", as the Review's evidence base was limited, is extremely important too as it means that the Government can no longer use the Review to downplay the risks to Afghans as a result of the data breach.

The Report's conclusion that the Government kept the data breach secret for too long, avoiding public scrutiny and accountability to affected Afghans, and that "the government's assumptions about who could be trusted were too pessimistic", is a vindication for all those, who like me, were long aware of the data breach, but showed discretion in the interests of affected Afghans.

While the Committee's Report also finds that unresolved family cases cause significant anxiety among Afghans affected by the data breach, worryingly, I have been contacted by many Afghans whose family relocations got rejected in the past week. As the Report stresses, the pressure to expedite decisions should not come at the cost of fair and careful assessments.

Finally, I welcome the forward-looking approach of the Committee to encourage the Government to learn lessons for the future. Together with veterans, diplomats, and others involved in international missions, we have recently published the first ever Guidelines for the Rights and Protection of Local Staff in Future Missions, which we hope will be of use to the UK Government, to better safeguard local staff, and ultimately, our own defence and diplomatic personnel."

Written and Oral Evidence, Defence Select Committee 2025-2026

Written and Oral Evidence to the Afghan Data Breach Inquiry by the Sulha Alliance

Written Evidence Oct 2025
Oral Evidence December 2025
Written Evidence June 2026

Written Evidence, Foreign Affairs Select Committee, 2023

In October 2023, the Sulha Alliance was invited by the Foreign Affairs Select Committee in the UK Parliament to submit Written Evidence for its Follow-up to Afghanistan inquiry.

The published Written Evidence is publicly accessible on the UK Government website and includes case studies of Afghans eligible for resettlement, who are currently in Afghanistan or Pakistan and other third countries.

Briefing, House of Lords, 2022

In April 2022, the Sulha Alliance was part of a coalition of organisations, providing a briefing to members of the House of Lords prior to the debate on Ukrainian refugees, urging the UK government to ensure the same approach to all refugees, regardless of origin, and to immediately establish an “Afghan Family Reunion Scheme”, on similar terms to the Ukraine Family Scheme.

This would mean upholding its ongoing duty to those who put their lives on the line to support the UK’s efforts in Afghanistan and allow their family members who are now at risk because of that work to reunite and rebuild their lives together in safety in the UK.

Evidence Defence Select Committee, House of Commons 2021

In October 2021, the Sulha Alliance submitted Written Evidence to the 'Withdrawal from Afghanistan' Inquiry of the Defence Select Committee.

In November 2021, Sulha Alliance co-founders Peter Gordon-Finlayson and Dr. Sara de Jong provided Oral Evidence to the Defence Select Committee.

Letters to MPs & Lords

The Sulha Alliance engages with MPs and Members of the House of Lords from all Parties to draw attention to the plight of former Afghan interpreters.

The Sulha Alliance raises awareness about interpreters facing threats in Afghanistan, and has requested the protection of former interpreters who are stuck in refugee camps in other countries. It has also raised the issue of the lack of employment opportunities for former interpreters in the UK and the continued separation from their spouses and children.

The Sulha Alliance also supports Afghan interpreters who are resettled in the UK to lobby their MPs.

Evidence Defence Select Committee, House of Commons, 2017

In January 2017, the Defence Select Committee of the House of Commons took oral evidence from Colonel (Rtd) Simon Diggins OBE, former British Defence Attaché in Kabul.

In November of the same year, Dr Sara de Jong also provided oral and written evidence to the Committee.

The report concluded that "the Government should move away from its ‘relocation in extremis’ policy and adopt a more needs-based approach to the Intimidation Scheme. Otherwise, the scheme will continue to lack all credibility." (p. 21)

Defence_Committee_28-11-17_11-00-04.mp4

Parliament.tv recording of Oral Evidence to Defence Select Committee with witnesses Tom Tugendhat MP and Dr Sara de Jong

As quoted in the final report of the Committee, Dr Sara de Jong highlighted, in her oral and written evidence to the Committee, a lack of uniformity in the approach adopted by the different nations involved in ISAF and the successor mission Operation RESOLUTE SUPPORT (p. 30):

"While the [...] missions were coordinated on an international level, there is no international coordination and harmonisation regarding the relocation and intimidation schemes for former [LECs]. On the contrary, relocation and protection/intimidation schemes are different from country to country and variations between the schemes depend on seemingly arbitrary circumstances, such as the political climate, the lobbying success of veterans and other advocates as well as ad hoc discretionary decisions."

Leading International Advocacy

June 2021

The Sulha Alliance and 16 partner organisations from 7 countries published a letter calling on the Heads of State and Governments in the US, Canada, Australia, Britain, Germany, France and Italy, as well as NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg to act urgently to protect Afghan locally employed civilians (LECs) of NATO member states.

In the letter, copied to Boris Johnson, we said that Nato countries should immediately evacuate the staff they had employed to ensure "that those who protected our lives will themselves be safe from reprisal".

The letter got international media coverage, including in the Times (UK); Der Tagesspiegel (Germany); Politiken (Denmark), Trouw (the Netherlands); The Guardian (Australia desk), and Business Insider.

Supporting International Advocacy

May 2021 Open Letter to NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, initiated by Red-T, signed by the Sulha Alliance, demanding resolute action for the protection of Afghan local staff.

“Protect Translators and Interpreters, Protect the World”: A Roundtable at the United Nations, April 2018.

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